Week 1 Readings Blog

Both the Net Gen and Digital Natives articles were interesting. I am a Gen X adult. I did not have any cool toys in the classroom growing up, unless you count the overhead projector. It wasn’t until my high school and college years that computers became part of learning. I must, however, disagree with some of the assumptions of the articles. Although I am in my 30s, I feel that my way of learning is very much like the Net Gens. I have the tv on, just responded to a text, and have my music playing on my laptop, while I’m writing this blog. I too need to multitask in order to stay focused. It always frustrated me that I could remember lyrics or movie lines almost instantly but struggled to learn and memorize the various tasks that teachers required. The Net Gen is no different. The main difference is that people are recognizing now that these kids need to be taught different. I was still stuck with the same old ways of teaching that was used on my parents. Everything has been advancing in our world; everything but our teaching methods. The Net Gen has finally forced everyone else not caught up to pay attention to the changes.
I understand most of what the Net Gens are about. I completely understand and agree with the learning process that these kids want and need. I, however, am still a believer in privacy. The Twitter/myspace craze is not my thing. In these articles, it explained that these kids view these public posting as private conversations that they would have with someone face to face.
I am excited to think about the endless possibilities of creating new ways to teach this and future generations.